President Sangeeta’s Opening Remarks:
- Kelly McAllister was wished a Happy Birthday for Sunday 30 July and Colin Brown led the singing of the song.
- Happy Wedding Anniversary to Catherine and Dominic Elfick for 28 July - 22 years of wedded bliss.
- Catherine introduced her guests Melinda Moulday and Sherril Guerney; Sherril is an old friend of Danielle’s and turned up to surprise her on her induction into the Club.
- Ken introduced our Special Guest Rosemary PJ-Akpan from the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama in Nigeria.
- Assistant Governor Shia Smart
- and Marilyn Lambert our Guest Speaker from Outer Eastern Foodshare were also welcomed as our guests.
Induction of Danielle Gaitely
- Sergeant John Henderson accompanied Danielle to the lectern with the ceremonial mace, where Sangeeta inducted her into our Club.
- Her mentor will be Marcus.
- Danielle thanked us and is looking forward to being a member.
Special Guest Rosemary PJ-Akpan
- joined Rotary last year.
- is a member of the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama.
- had the opportunity to travel to Australia for this year’s International Convention and has stayed on.
Her Rotary Club
- is engaged in lots of projects because there are a lot of challenges.
- is very busy in the area of healthcare and maternal and child health
- is helping with school buildings, the toilets and classrooms and providing safe drinking water.
- has formed committees
- takes care of polio cases in Nigeria especially in the north where lots of Muslims live.
- creates awareness when going for a walk and tells them why immunisation matters.
- buys school uniforms and school bags.
- has empowered a whole lot of people
- has 146 members and attributes this to their involvement with the media.
- Rosemary works at the Central Bank of Nigeria where she analyses data. When there is increased liquidity in the system, she advises the government.
Chairperson PP MPHF Tina McInerney:
Rosemary is staying with Tina. Rosemary wore her beautiful costume tonight as it’s what she wears to special Rotary events. Tina has learnt such a lot hosting Rosemary and it makes her appreciate the life we live in Australia even more.
Tina introduced the guest speaker Marilyn Lambert from Outer Eastern Foodshare.
Marilyn’s Presentation - Outer Eastern Foodshare
- 70% of food wasted in Australia is still edible
- 7% of people in the Yarra Valley can’t afford to buy food for themselves each week
- this equates to 11,000 people
- her organisation is about sharing and rescuing food and stop it from going into landfill
- it’s a total waste of consumers’ money, a waste of water and the farmers’ resources growing the food
- waste is also bad for the environment as it goes into landfill
- children with poor nutrition have reduced health, which in turn leads to reduced levels of education
Foodshare
- has been going for 10 years
- has a refrigerated van which the Bendigo Bank paid half for
- has received funding to run cooking sessions, showing people how to make healthy food easily
- is trying to secure more seconds, for example slightly bent cucumber and knobbly capsicums to send out
- is establishing a warehouse deal with Knox Council for distribution hubs
- is the middleman
- distributes around to food relief agencies in the Dandenong Ranges to people who can actually use the food
- food relief agencies share with their clients and work with them
- there is often a high level of alcohol, drugs and gambling and the agencies encourage the families to use other services
Food comes from a range of sources:
- Second Bite get stuff from Markets e.g. Prahran, at the end of the day and distribute it out.
- Fairshare have done a great amount of work into “near Use By”. They snap freeze these foods with the date and later cook it into meals, freeze and then distribute.
- For the homeless, they make a lot of handheld stuff and they get it heated up for free. There are individual and family-sized meals, as well as culturally appropriate meals prepared.
- OzHarvest collect a lot from caterers, such as a truckload of individually packed food from Marley Spoon Foods. They had to find freezers but got to save it going to waste.
- Jenny Craig has gone under; they received 200 kg. of carrots from Jenny Craig which went into carrot soup etc.
- Every Friday a team of 10 at Scoresby prepare 500 meals. The ingredients are all listed on the containers.
- FoodBank supplies most of the food into the system.
The food is given out locally here in:
- hampers
- meals to come and enjoy and sit. This is very important for people who are socially isolated e.g. the elderly and women escaping domestic violence.
- The food is given to places such as St Luke’s Cockatoo, Foothills, Community Care at Belgrave who then supply people in our neighbourhood.
FAQs
- What is the difference between “Use By” and “Best By”?
“Use By” - milk and meat are “Use By” as they are likely to go off but they take time to go off.
A lot of stuff in Australia is wasted because it has beaten its “Best By” date. These goods begin to go down slightly over several years. Clients receive these because it’s fine to eat and still has nutritional value.
No, if you give away food in good faith to a charity the law protects you under The Food Act.
- Does it encourage poor behaviour?
Research shows only 5 to 10% take when they don’t really need it.
- I have spare money now to spend on drugs, alcohol, gaming and cigarettes.
Not many people do this, as the agencies have support services and counselling and they ask, “Do you want to have a chat?” They may budget poorly, or spend too much on alcohol and cigarettes.
**You can find more information at Askizzy.org.au
How can you help? - Rescue and share food
“ Give what you can.” “Take what you need.”
- There are lots of local food rescues. You pick up from supermarkets at the end of the day, e.g. bread from Woolworths is perfectly fine to eat.
- Grow more at home.
- Help groups like them e.g. Foothills at Belgrave and elsewhere.
- Use composting to not have any food go into landfill.
The biggest food wasters are millennials and people in their 20s. They are the biggest consumers of food from outside of the house.
Response: Don Borg thanked Marilyn for her presentation, which was very engaging. Don believes there is a law in France where restaurants have to donate food for repurposing.
Refunds on containers are coming into Victoria soon.
Reports:
were limited to PP PHF Catherine the Emerald Rotary Market Coordinator. Referring to the email that went out to everyone inviting them to be on the market committee, Catherine received three responses 😢 but needs a few more people please 🥰
PHF John Henderson led another hilarious and lucrative Fines Session.
Closing Remarks: President Sangeeta
Thanked our guests
- Melinda Moulday
- Rosemary - it was good to hear about her Club
- Sherril Guerney for supporting Danielle
- AG Shia Smart
- Marilyn Lambert - it was sad to hear that people don’t have enough food to eat. You are doing fantastic work and we thank you for it.
- Tina for Chairing
- Don for the Response
If you are not coming to the Tuesday night meeting, please let Lorna know by noon on Monday.
